Wearable computers gaining mainstream interest?

[murakami]

Nano-ITX

Just read that Via will have a ~5"x~5" motherboard to go along with their new postage stamp size 1gHz C3 processor.

[mfreeck]

Just read that Via will have a ~5"x~5" motherboard to go along with their new postage stamp size 1gHz C3 processor.

I think the question is.... how's the cooling on that? even if a cpu is "passive cooling only," by the time it's in a package, you usually need something to keep it cool. I think this is probably less true of the transmeta. Oh, and 5"x5" isn't really the "smallest motherboard," just the smallest item being called a motherboard, or the smallest item for more mainstream consumers. Check out the pc104 board. Despite what the say about the size specs, lots of header pins will push it out a little... my board it 4"x5", built in audio, tvout, usb, lcd out, CF, ethernet, 256ram, etc. I'd love to see the specs on the new board though, especially if the cost is reasonable while retaining 5v only functionality. The cool thing about the tiny proc is it will allow room to put more things on the board.

[murakami]

I think the question is.... how's the cooling on that? even if a cpu is "passive cooling only," by the time it's in a package, you usually need something to keep it cool. I think this is probably less true of the transmeta. Oh, and 5"x5" isn't really the "smallest motherboard," just the smallest item being called a motherboard, or the smallest item for more mainstream consumers. Check out the pc104 board. Despite what the say about the size specs, lots of header pins will push it out a little... my board it 4"x5", built in audio, tvout, usb, lcd out, CF, ethernet, 256ram, etc. I'd love to see the specs on the new board though, especially if the cost is reasonable while retaining 5v only functionality. The cool thing about the tiny proc is it will allow room to put more things on the board.

What is interesting about these is that itx and nano-itx are slotted for the media convergence market, where as the PC104 stuff occupies the embedded processor market. Hopefully Via will make the nano-ITX boards compatible with off the shelf peripherals. The big turn-off for PC104 are the modules, the bus (a lot are still ISA), and the processors (386-PII).

[murakami]

nano-ITX pix

http://www.mini-itx.com/news/computex2003-1/

the site is getting hammered, so may take several trys. Good closeups.

[mfreeck]

What is interesting about these is that itx and nano-itx are slotted for the media convergence market, where as the PC104 stuff occupies the embedded processor market. Hopefully Via will make the nano-ITX boards compatible with off the shelf peripherals. The big turn-off for PC104 are the modules, the bus (a lot are still ISA), and the processors (386-PII).

Well, it's true that I would LOVE to see something selling in the end-user market that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and you don't have to jump through all the hoops to buy something (company name? project code name? type of products? yadda yadda, just give me that damned unit!), if they used standard pci cards, it would shoot your chances of building a wearable out of it. You could probably get away with compact pci, especially if the cards were angled, or using a riser card. As far as pc104 goes... yes they are still fairly behind the times, because of what they've sacrificed for size and what the embedded market generally requires. As I said, my cpu module had a pci bus and plenty of bells and whistles. It still wasn't perfect... I encountered alot of problems, especially relating to power. Oh, and it was only P300. All depends what you are using it for... do you really NEED a 1g proc for using the internet? Of course, if you want to do mediated reality, that's a whole other ball of wax and would make the board pretty appealing... if it used 5v only and there weren't heat issues with such a small proc and such high frequency. Having this stuff hit the mainstream can only be good.

[murakami]

Well, it's true that I would LOVE to see something selling in the end-user market that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and you don't have to jump through all the hoops to buy something (company name? project code name? type of products? yadda yadda, just give me that damned unit!), if they used standard pci cards, it would shoot your chances of building a wearable out of it. You could probably get away with compact pci, especially if the cards were angled, or using a riser card. As far as pc104 goes... yes they are still fairly behind the times, because of what they've sacrificed for size and what the embedded market generally requires. As I said, my cpu module had a pci bus and plenty of bells and whistles. It still wasn't perfect... I encountered alot of problems, especially relating to power. Oh, and it was only P300. All depends what you are using it for... do you really NEED a 1g proc for using the internet? Of course, if you want to do mediated reality, that's a whole other ball of wax and would make the board pretty appealing... if it used 5v only and there weren't heat issues with such a small proc and such high frequency. Having this stuff hit the mainstream can only be good.

The pics on the mini-ITX site shows that it uses a SODIMM for memory and a mini-pci slot. There are some header pins there that I can't identify the function (surely not a floppy). However, no serial (but that's just me, cause I grew up with the serial port), looks like only USB and Firewire. I agree that heat could be a problem.

As for uses, it would nice to have a single information module that could be used as a desktop, as a wearable, or in a car.

[digital warfare]

they have stuff like that go here

www.techtv.com

[murakami]

they have stuff like that go here

www.techtv.com

It's quite apparent that you are orphan raised by a Sampo or some other off brand Korean TV.

Oh yeah, to paraphrase Pliny the Elder, "Shut the fuck up."

[mfreeck]

http://www.mini-itx.com/news/computex2003-1/

the site is getting hammered, so may take several trys. Good closeups.

oh, BABY. And I do believe that's a PCMCIA slot underneath! <drooool> But it still needs a CF slot also. :) I'd be damned worried about heat, but having almost all the parts built onto the board is wonderful. And you're right about serial... hopefully that's what the header pins are for... and the floppy? I still love my floppy. Hmmm, one of those header pins maybe have been for SATA.

[hackajar]

http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/f...uter/bushf.htm

Paragraph 2 of this article has some insight into this world of wearables. Whole article is great as well. Please note the publish date on article

"The camera hound of the future wears on his forehead a lump a little larger than a walnut. It takes pictures 3 millimeters square, later to be projected or enlarged, which after all involves only a factor of 10 beyond present practice. The lens is of universal focus, down to any distance accommodated by the unaided eye, simply because it is of short focal length. There is a built-in photocell on the walnut such as we now have on at least one camera, which automatically adjusts exposure for a wide range of illumination. There is film in the walnut for a hundred exposures, and the spring for operating its shutter and shifting its film is wound once for all when the film clip is inserted. It produces its result in full color. It may well be stereoscopic, and record with two spaced glass eyes, for striking improvements in stereoscopic technique are just around the corner.

The cord which trips its shutter may reach down a man's sleeve within easy reach of his fingers. A quick squeeze, and the picture is taken. On a pair of ordinary glasses is a square of fine lines near the top of one lens, where it is out of the way of ordinary vision. When an object appears in that square, it is lined up for its picture. As the scientist of the future moves about the laboratory or the field, every time he looks at something worthy of the record, he trips the shutter and in it goes, without even an audible click."